So I find myself with a proper gaming PC for the first time in more than 10 years. So, what have I missed?

I'm looking for hidden gems mostly. Anything good really. No MMOs, and no RTS games unless they have a single player campaign on a Company of Heroes or Starcraft 2 level of quality.

Keep in mind I've remained a console gamer, so any big cross platform release that has interested me in the last ten years I have already played. PC exclusives are what I'm looking for, unless it is something so much better on the PC it's worth a possible double dip.

Thanks in advance.

None.

You're welcome.

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there. 
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice. 
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.   
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does.  Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC. 

Deus Ex came out after 2000? I must be off on my timeline. The original Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time. Thanks for the suggestions.

Based on the hours I've played them, I can recommend several. Sins of a Solar Empire, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War I &II, Crysis 1 & 2, Civ V. Can't go wrong there.

Deus Ex came out after 2000? I must be off on my timeline. The original Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time. Thanks for the suggestions.

World of Warcraft 2004

Warcraft 3 has a great campaign.

Dragon Age Origins, one of the best role playing games to come out in a long time.

Team Fortress 2, the most popular "casual" competitive first person shooter, and it's free.

The Witcher series, great PC roleplaying games.

Pretty much anything made by Relic, Blizzard, Valve or Bioware is going to be worth looking into.

This page has a list of what's popular in PC gaming right now.

Just get the orange box... even if you got it for console the PC version is so much better thanks to steam. And I'm hard pressed to call Team Fortress 2 "casual", certainly it's not "hardcore" in the sense of like Battlefield but Valve has really made one of the most incredible community-driven online shooters with that game.

Crysis 1

Torchlight is pretty good.

• Metro 2033
• Cryostasis
• Jamestown
• Audiosurf
• Amnesia
• Penumbra 1 & 2
• Hard Reset
• Binding of Isaac
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• The Ball
• RUSH
• No One Lives Forever 2
• Gemini Rue

Go buy Mount and Blade: Warband it'll last a year i've already put 1000 hours into it

@McGrittles said:

Go buy Mount and Blade: Warband it'll last a year i've already put 1000 hours into it

YES. Refreshing game.

Also, just in case you missed last year... minecraft ...skyrim.

Diablo 2

Dragon Age Origins; totally different experience on the PC.

Civilization V; will keep you occupied for ages.

And if you're up for a really good (but too short) adventure game, try Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (sequel to The Longest Journey which was released in 1999).

If you want some small downloadables, try Machinarium and VVVVVV.

Thanks again everyone.

Can't wait to jump back in. Perhaps find some Giantbomb servers for Counter Strike and Battlefield 3, assuming they exist.

Thanks again everyone. Can't wait to jump back in. Perhaps find some Giantbomb servers for Counter Strike and Battlefield 3, assuming they exist.

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

I decree this list to be accurate.

Except for the fact that you left out dragon age origins, you fuck.

@Swoxx said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

I decree this list to be accurate.

Except for the fact that you left out dragon age origins, you fuck.

I agree. I appoint @AhmadMetallic the unofficial official GB PC Ambasador. I'll add Dwarf Fortress to the list for those that want to get a little frisky.

@McGrittles: Impressive. I put 200 hrs into the game and thought i did something.

@Tesla said:

Thanks again everyone. Can't wait to jump back in. Perhaps find some Giantbomb servers for Counter Strike and Battlefield 3, assuming they exist.

Heh. Ah. Yeah. You might want to get a move on with BF3 then :P

Pretty sure Red Alert 2 came out around then. That's one of the best RTS ever. Anyone that says otherwise is wrong.

@crusader8463 said:

Pretty sure Red Alert 2 came out around then. That's one of the best RTS ever. Anyone that says otherwise is wrong.

+1

Fuck Red Alert 3.

Majesty 1, seriously, its a great game!

@TheStimpinator said:

Just get the orange box... even if you got it for console the PC version is so much better thanks to steam. And I'm hard pressed to call Team Fortress 2 "casual", certainly it's not "hardcore" in the sense of like Battlefield but Valve has really made one of the most incredible community-driven online shooters with that game.

Maybe, I guess I was just getting at it being casual/newb friendly, a much friendlier environment than most online multiplayer games.

The Witcha, Dragon Age, Hard Reset, VVVVVV, Beat Hazard, TF2.

@viiral said:

@McGrittles said:

Go buy Mount and Blade: Warband it'll last a year i've already put 1000 hours into it

Fire and Sword is better.

Fire and Sword was just a glorified and shitty mod you had to pay for. The multiplayer was horrible with terrible map designs and modes plus the story based single player missions were awful as well, don't buy it.

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

Listen to this man.

Also adding to the list:

• Penumbra games, but especially Penumbra Black Plague. I liked it better than Amnesia, honestly, which I also heartily recommend.
• STALKER Call of Pripyat deserves a mention. Play SoC first, though.
• Dragon Age Origins. A PC is where you play that game.
• Magicka is pretty fun with friends.
• Metro 2033. Yes, it is multiplatform. No, it's not as good as STALKER nor is as deep, but it is different and it's still pretty good. From what I've seen of the 360 version, you wouldn't have done it justice if you've only played it on a console.
• Audiosurf. Though considering that doesn't require much of a PC in any way, you may have already played that at some point.
• Cryostasis isn't bad. Though be warned, it is badly optimized and will likely bring your system to its knees no matter what. It still might be worth playthrough for the few neat ideas that it has.
• Machinarium wasn't bad at all either.

All told, you got some pretty good recommendations in this thread from everyone.

Homeworld

@AhmadMetallic: @AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

Where's freelancer? :(

The best resource on the web for this kind of thing is /v/'s recommendation wiki. I use it all the time for classic game recommendations.

http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki/PC

I really like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

@mosdef said:

@Swoxx said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

I decree this list to be accurate.

Except for the fact that you left out dragon age origins, you fuck.

I agree. I appoint @AhmadMetallic the unofficial official GB PC Ambasador. I'll add Dwarf Fortress to the list for those that want to get a little frisky.

I concur, and I can't help but get frisky at the thought of Dwarf Fortress.

Half-Life 2. (I don't play the PC though. I played the Orange Box.)

There's this game called World of Warcraft that seems to get a bit of attention every now and then.

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

I decree this list to be accurate.

Except for the fact that you left out dragon age origins, you fuck.

@AhmadMetallic: Any game with a bustling mod community and proper mod tools are radically better on the PC, you console whore.

All the games. Really.

When did Jedi knight 2 jedi outcast come out? thats a damn fine star wars based game imo.

@SlasherMan said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

• Deus Ex is by far the greatest gem to ever grace the platform. Download the texture pack and have one of the best most innovative stealth FPS cyberpunk experiences out there.
• RTS on SP campaign quality of CoH... I think World in Conflict is the most acclaimed choice.
• The Witcher is miles ahead of the 7-8 other RPGs that I've played. Such a bleak, bleak universe that's almost as scary to explore as Stalker's. The character is way too badass for you to handle and the story is very unique. Swordplay is a little stale but the various attack stances and the awesome magic spells that you can upgrade make up for it.
• Crysis. If anyone tells you it's a tech demo, they didn't play for more than 30 minutes. That gameplay blew my mind in 2007 and has been doing so on an annual basis.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl . Hands down thee best atmosphere in a game, big dysfunctional world around you with mutants and beasts and bandits and military, and the shooting is extremely unique. Download the Complete 2009 Mod.

• Half-Life 2 is the obvious choice for a more linear and story driven FPS.
• Max Payne 1 and 2, extremely old, yet the gameplay, aesthetics and story telling haven't aged a single day. Some of the best Third Person Shooters you can find on the platform, and by far the best noire atmospheres in a game.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a pretty good adventure game.
• Mount & Blade is a... I'm not even sure how to describe it. But it's very good at what it does. Help, someone!
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad if you're interested in a realistic slow-paced WW2 multiplayer shooter with up to 64 players.
• Neverwinter Nights 2 is, I think, the go-to party-based RPG on the PC.

Listen to this man.

Also adding to the list:

• Penumbra games, but especially Penumbra Black Plague. I liked it better than Amnesia, honestly, which I also heartily recommend.
• STALKER Call of Pripyat deserves a mention. Play SoC first, though.
• Dragon Age Origins. A PC is where you play that game.
• Magicka is pretty fun with friends.
• Metro 2033. Yes, it is multiplatform. No, it's not as good as STALKER nor is as deep, but it is different and it's still pretty good. From what I've seen of the 360 version, you wouldn't have done it justice if you've only played it on a console.
• Audiosurf. Though considering that doesn't require much of a PC in any way, you may have already played that at some point.
• Cryostasis isn't bad. Though be warned, it is badly optimized and will likely bring your system to its knees no matter what. It still might be worth playthrough for the few neat ideas that it has.
• Machinarium wasn't bad at all either.

All told, you got some pretty good recommendations in this thread from everyone.

You two left out Dawn of War 2!

Especially if he likes Company of Heroes and Starcraft 2. Other then that you guys nailed it.

Actually fuck that, play E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy. It's good for you.

@Winternet said:

All the games. Really.

Even this well known PC exclusive from 2003?

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

@Sayishere: I just bought that and Jedi Academy when they were on sale during the holiday. Man those games are cool.

@Winternet said:

All the games. Really.

Allofthem?

Sorry if some of these are obvious, but I figure why not?

• WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne--Not only has a great campaign, but lots of awesome community mods. I don't know how many of them are alive on Battle.net now, but they're out there.
• Minecraft--This game has the potential to be a huge timesink if you like just messing around and building things.
• Total War (franchise)--Great historical strategy games. I most highly recommend Rome, though, because Rome is awesome.
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and its sequel--Both solid RTS's, I'd say II is on-par with StarCraft, especially since SC's mythos seems nearly completely ripped from 40,000... but I'm not gonna get into that. It also has a nice option to play the non-linear campaign with some RPG elements co-operatively.
• Left 4 Dead 2--A fun co-op and versus mode online, with all sorts of wacky modes. I wouldn't particularly play this one solo. Yeah, you could have played this on console, but c'mon. It's a Valve game. I'll also reiterate any of the recommendations for other Valve games, they're all worth playing.
• Civilization IV--Someone else recommended V, but I'll tout this game over its next iteration. It just feels like a deeper game. And plus no DLC crap to worry about besides the actual expansion packs.

@BeachThunder: @Kidavenger: All the single games.

Since 2000? That gives a lot of of options.  Tons of them can be had for cheap too.  People seem to be recommending games from the second half of the 2000s and more modern games so I'll go through my favourite older PC games.
 
Battlefield 1942 - Just play Battle For Britain and fly planes all day. Still one of the best air combat experiences because it is easy to figure out but hard to master 
Stronghold - This is one of my favourite RTS/building games, and it is basically only single player.  Nothing is more satisfying that fields of pitch being lit up. NOTHING
Sid Meier's SimGolf - This game is so good. You both design the course and play as a golfer. It's fun and lighthearted, and kinda addicting too. I wrote the wiki for it, though it needs stuff added.
Ghost Recon + expansions - Still one of my favourite shooters. It's a lot trickier than modern shooters, you can die in one shot or be wounded. Much better than 90% of modern shooters.
Diablo 2 - It's Diablo 2. No explanation needed. 
Medieval 2: Total War - I've put in hundreds of hours into this game 
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors - I had to look it up. This came out in 2000 so it allows me to recommend AoE2, which is one of my favourite games of all time.  
Star Wars: Empire At War - A really fun RTS with a great single player 
Warcraft III: This game has a fantastic campaign and is a really fun game overall.
Battlefield 2: Probably the best Battlefield game, anyone who claims the new games are better than it are crazy. Great maps, no BROKEN ROCKET LAUNCHERS like the new games, only skill will get you anywhere in it because the weapons have crazy spread and aren't accurate unless you are good at aiming and controlling shot bursts.
Medal of Honour: Allied Assault -You know Call of Duty? This was Call of Duty before CoD existed, and it was awesome.  A fantastic game that I had a ton of fun with the multiplayer on even though everyone hacked (I was 10 when I played this online. It was crazy). Part of the team that made this formed Infinity Ward. 
Star Wars: Republic Commando - A severely underrated shooter, this was a great game and it looked fantastic when it came out.
KOTOR and KOTOR II: These are great games on their own. The mod community did a great job with these games as well, especially with KOTOR II, which was having all of the cut content finished by the community 
Sid Meier's Civilization 4: people have already said it but it needs to be emphasized, this is one of the best games ever. I've put over 300 hours into this game. 
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: A really neat shooter and the lightsaber elements are incredibly well done. 
  
And last, but most importantly of all:
 
Mafia: The console port of this game was absolutely horrible, and sadly that's what most people played so it gets a bad rap. The PC version of Mafia is many magnitudes better and is my favourite game of all time. It's a completely different game than the console version.  The world is great, the shooting mechanics were realistic, driving was realistic, it looked fantastic for the time (It still looks fairly good today), and the atmosphere was perfect.  The driving was completely different than the console version, and how cars got damaged was as well. On consoles, they ripped off the GTA damage style but on PC the car actually changed shape and could take damage to specific parts (IE you could wreck the transmission if you crash and it would not change gears, etc).  This is a vastly overlooked game on PC and it definitely deserves a look at for anyone trying out PC gaming.  It's far better than most 3rd person shooters made in the 2000s.